A Question of Fudge

This paper is an outline and critique of William Nordhaus’ book A Question of Balance (2008), in which he proposes his optimal policy for dealing with global climate change. Nordhaus finds that the proposals of the Stern Review and that of Al Gore are inefficient and costly. The critique of Nordhaus is focused on (1) the structure of his model, which requires marginal costs be equal to marginal benefits everywhere and at all time periods, and that (2) the rate of discount be based on the opportunity cost of private capital, and (3) his failure to treat climate change as a global public good.